Senators forced to make a statement on Brady Tkachuk leaving the team

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an update version of our earlier article published this morning by Hockey Feed staff writer Jonathan Larrivee. Read below for our update.

The Ottawa Senators were swept at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes last week in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and that means tough questions for players and team personnel on locker room cleanout day.

Perhaps the player that there have been the most questions about coming off of this most recent elimination for the Senators has been captain Brady Tkachuk, with rampant trade speculation seemingly endlessly hounding Tkachuk since his big win for the United States of America at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

While there were no doubt a ton of questions waiting for Tkachuk today, it was revealed that the Senators captain will in fact not be attending locker room cleanout day. This isn't an issue of Tkachuk shirking his responsibilities however, quite the contrary, with Senators insider Bruce Garrioch reporting on Monday morning that Tkachuk has left the team in order to be with his wife Emma.

Tkachuk and Emma and expecting their second child and with the season already over it makes all the sense in the world for Tkachuk to be with his family for such an important moment in their lives.

While there has been a spattering of criticism directed at Tkachuk on social media for no-showing what would have no doubt been a difficult day for the Senators captain, most fans have expressed their support for Tkachuk's decision to be with his family.

UPDATE: Senators GM Steve Staios has now released a statement on the Tkachuk trade rumors, calling them "nonsense".

“It’s nonsense is what it is,” Staios said. “I don’t read it. I don’t bother with it. We know what we have internally. We have great communication with our players, so we really don’t focus on it.

"I mean, this comes up very often. There's nothing that we have talked about or thought about where that conversation should happen.”

Call me skeptical because the Captain Tkachuk Experiment doesn't appear to be working out in Ottawa. Don't get me wrong, he's a valuable player but to me he's not captain material.

Thoughts, Sens fans?